Door-locking mechanism



Jan. 13, 1931. w. T. PIERCE DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 24, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 13, 1931. w. T. PIERCE I DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 24, 1926 Patented Jan. 1-3, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application filed February 24, 1926. Serial No. 90,245.

The object of this invention is to devise novel door locking mechanism for controlling the communication between a plurality of bedrooms and a common bath room so F that the occupant of one bed room can not be disturbed, while using the bath room, by

the occupant of another bed room.

With the above and other objects in. view as will hereinafter more clearly appear, my invention comprehends a novel door locking mechanism.

It further comprehends a novel door locking mechanism wherein the manual actuated locking bolt for one door eflects the electrical locking of the lockiilg bolt for the other door, and wherein, the unlocking of the looking mechanism of one door causes the locking mechanism of the other door to be unlocked.

It further comprehends novel locking mechanism wherein the occupant of the bath room can open his own door in case the electric power should be shut off, and wherein provision is made to enable the managementof the hotel to unlock and open the door leading from the bath room to the bed room a from within such bed room in case the electrio current should failor the person within the bath room should for any reason become incapacitated to actuate the locking mechanlsm.

Other novel features of'construction and advantage will hereinafter more clearly appear in the detailed description and the appended claims.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, I have shown in the accompanying drawing a typical embodiment of it, which, in practice, w ill give reliable and satlsfactory results. It is, however, to understood that this embodiment is typlcal only and that the. various instrumentalities of which my invention consists can be yariously arranged and organized, and the invention '45 is not, therefore, limited to the precise arrangement and organization of these instrumentalities as herein set forth.

Figure 1 is a sectional plan view of a typical arrangement of'bed rooms with a common' bath room, in conjunction with which 5 door locking mechanism embodying my in- .vention' is employed.

Figure 2 is a detail of one of the combined manually actuated and electrically actuated locking mechanisms carried by a door.

Figure 3 is a wiring diagram.

Figure 4 is a detail showing an emergency key control of the lock.

Figure 5 is a detail of the door plunger switch.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings:-

In accordance with my present invention, I have devised a novel door locking mechor, anism which is fool proof in the sense that the occupant of the bath room can not .reenter his bed room without unlocking the door which controls communication between the other bed room and the common bath room.

If the occupant of a bed roomis in the bath room, he cannot lock the door leading from one bed room to the bath room without automatically locking the door leading from the other bed room to the bath room, since the manual actuation of one looking mechanism effects the automatic electrical operation of the other locking mechanism.

Each locking mechanism is a combined so manually and electrically controlled lock.

Referring first to the construction seen in Figure .1, l designates a conventional lay- .out of bed rooms and a common bath room,

wherein 2 and'3 designate, respectively, ad- 55 JOlIllIlg bed rooms, which are 1n commumcation with a common bath room 4, and such communication is controlled by means of doors 5 and 6. Each of the rooms is ordinarily provided with a window .7, and each 1 room is provided with a door 8, which controls the communication between the conventional hall and such bed room.

The partitions 9 and 10 are preferably arranged parallel with respect to each other in order to economize space. The bed room 2 is provided with a wardrobe 11, having a door 12, and, in a similar manner, the bed room 2 is provided with a wardrobe 13 having a door 14. L

The bed room 2 is provided with an alcove 15, in free communication with it and provided with a lavatory 16. The room 3 is provided with an alcove 17, in free communication with it, and such alcove is provided with a lavatory 18. The bath room 4 has a toilet 19, and a bath tub or shower arrangement, and since the bath tub or shower can'have any desired arrangement within the bath room 4, ll have deemed it unnecessary to illustrate such construction, as it would be of any conventional character.

By the term bath room, I intend to include an arrangement. in which either a bath tub or a shower or both may be employed.

,Each door, such as 5 and 6, has mounted in it the casing 20 of a combined manually and electrically controlled door locking mechanism embodying my invention, and, since the door locking mechanism carried by each door is of the same construction, a description of one will suflice for both.

Each casing 20 has mounted'in it a locking plunger 21 which may be controlled by means of a knob or handle 22, operatively connected with the locking plunger 21 in any desired manner to efl'ect its forward or rearward longitudinal movement. It will be seen from Figure-2 that the handle 22 is adapted to contact with a knob on the plunger stem 23.

This locking plunger 21 is guided in its rectilinear path by means of the guides 23 carried by the casing 20. The locking plunger is provided with a latch engaging shoulder 24 and with an annular groove 25. The'locking plunger 21 is adapted to be received in'and interlock with a keeper 26 which is secured to the frame of the door in any desired or conventional manner. The locking plunger 21 is retained in its unlatched position by means of a latch 27 fixed to the armature .28, which is pivoted at 29 to the casing20 and controlled by the latch magnet 30. The armature 28 has connected with it a stem 31 which is guided in a recess or boss 32 on the casing 20, and, between this boss and the armature 28, is interposed a spring 33 which tends to move the armature 28 and its latch 27 outwardly.

The latch may be guided by a desired number of guides 34, carried by the casing 20. The locking plunger 21 has a polyg nally shaped stem 23' guided in a stationary guide 35, between which and the collar 36 fixed to the locking plunger, is interposed a 2 spring 37, which tends to move the locking plunger forwardly when the latch 27 is released. 38 designates the'opening or bolt retracting magnet, the armature 39 of which is in the form of a lever fulcrumed in the casing 20 and having one end rounded and disposed in the annular groove 25 of the locking plunger 21.

The locking plunger has fixed to it a contact carrying member 40 having a contact 41 which is adapted to co-operate with the stationary Contact 42 which is electrically connected with the opening magnet 38, and also with the latch contact 43 which is elongated as will be hereinafter explained.

The contacts 42 and 43 are carried by the insulated block 44 secured within the casing 20 in any desired manner.

Referring now to the wiring diagram seen in Figure 3,45 and 46 designate conductors communicating with a source-of electric supply, such as the hotel or house current, and in electrical connection with the transformer 47 which will reduce the alternating current to'the desired voltage. 48 and 49 designate conductors in electrical connection with the transformer 47. The conductor 48 is in electrical connection with the opening magnet 38 of the door locking mechanism carried by one of the doors for example the door 5, and it is also in electrical connection with the opening magnet 38 carried by the doorlocking mechanism-carried by the door 6.

For convenience of description, I will designate the door locking mechanism carried by the door 5 as the door locking mechanism A, and the door locking mechanism carried by the door 6 as the door locking mechanism B.

The openmg magnet of each door locking mechanism is provided with an electrical connection 50 leading to its respective open-. ing contact 42. The conductor 49 is in elec-- trical connection with the contact 41 of each door locking mechanism A and B, respectively. The latch magnets are electrically connected by the conductor 51,- and each latch magnet is connected by a conductor 52 with the latch contact 43.

The latch' magnetconductor 51 is electrically connected by means of conductor 53 with a spring pressed door plunger 54 which 18 mounted in the door 5, so that, when the door is opened, the circuit is opened, and,

when the door is closed the circuit is closed, through the contact 55, from which leads a I line 56 to the contact 57 of the other spring r pressed door plunger 58, which is connected by the lme 59 with the conductor 48.

Each door locking mechanism is provided with a-contact 60,:so that when a locking plunger 21 of a door locking mechanism reaches its locked position, a circuit will be rearward position by the latch closed through alight 61 arranged in the bed room 2, and a light 62 arranged in the bed room 3, these lights being connected in parallel as will be clear from Figure 3.

5 The conductor 63' is connected with the I conductor 48 and with the lamps 61 and 62, and a conductor 64 is in electrical connection with the lamps 61 and 62 and with the contacts 60.

The contacts 60 are electrically connected with the contact carrying members 40, as shown by dotted lines in Figure 3. .The

latch contacts 43 of each door locking mechanism are connected by the conductor 65. Each locking plunger 21 has pivoted to it a plate 66, between which and the collar 36 is interposed a spring 67, the ends of these springs being seated in the collar and plate, respectively.

The tendency of this spring 67 is to retain the plate 66 in its forward position, so that when the locking plunger is retained in its 27, said latch will engage the plate 66.

This permits the circuit to be open through the latch magnets when the locking plungers are in their rearward position, and the circuit is not closed through such latch magnets 30 until a locking plunger is moved forwardly a suflicient distance to have its contact 41 engage its latch contact 43.

I provide means to permit the management of the hotel to unlock a bed room door in case the electric power should fail and the person in the bath room becomes for any reason incapacitated. For this purpose, a key 68 is provided which can be inserted from the bed room side of the bath room door to engage the door locking plunger 21 to move it rearwardly.

Each bed room door is provided on the bed room side with a rigid handle 69, and with a manually actuated latch' 70 which is the usual independent door latch and han- 1 (He. The key 68 is adapted to cooperate with a knob or projection on the'plunger 21, see

Figure 4. I

The operation will now be apparent to those skilled in this art and is as follows It will be seen that the door handles 22 for manually actuating the locking plungers 21 are on the bath room side of the doors 5 and 6, so that, in .order to lock the doors, the occupant of a bed room must be inv the bath room and both doors must be closed.

When the doors are opened, the spring pressed plungers 54 which are mounted in the rearward jamb of the door will move outwardly dueto the action of their springs so that thecircuit-can not be closed through them. When, however, the doors are closed,

the plungers 54 and 58 will be moved in-- wardly against the tension of their springs, so that t e plunger 54 will engage its contact 55, and the plunger 58 will engage its contact 57. I v I The two doors are now closed, so that the door plunger 54 is in engagement with its contact 55 and the door plunger 58 is in engagement with its contact 57, it being un- V when, during the forward movement, the

contact 41 engages the latch contact 43, the latch magnets 30 of each door locking mechanism A andB, respectively, will be energized thereby withdrawing the latches 27 and allowing the springs 37 to effect the for ward locking movements of the plungers 21.

The. contacts 41 carried by the locking plungers 21 pass out of engagement with the latch contacts 43, so that the latch magnets 30 are de-energized, thus permitting the springs 33 to move the latch 27 outwardly,

and both doors 5 and 6 are now locked.

It will be apparent that it is immaterial whether the occupant of the common bath room 4' actuates the knob 22 of door locking mechanism of the door 5- to effect the lockmg of the two doors, or actuates the handle 22 of the door locking mechanism of the door 6, since, in either case, both doors will be locked.

Assuming now that the occupant of the 1 bath room 4 desires to re-enter his bed room 2, he actuates the handle 22 to cause a rearward movement of thelocking plunger- 21.

As the contact 41 of the door locking mechanism A engages the latch contact 43, the latch magnet 30 will be energized and its latch 27 released, and, as the contact 41 passes out of engagement with the latch contacts 43 of the door locking mechanism A, bioth latch magnets 30 will be de-energize The continued rearward vmovement of the locking plunger 21 of the door locking mechanism A will bring its contact41 into engagement with the opening contact 42, thereby closing the circuit through the opening magnet 38 of the door locking mechanism B, and thereby cause the unlock ing of the door 6. i

Referring now more particularly to the wiring diagram seen in F i ure 3, and the form of construction seen in %igure 2, which I have selected solely for the' purpose of showing the principle of the invention and the manner of. its-operation, it will be ap parent that, when the lOOklIlg; plug of one door is in. its

shoulder 24 on the locking plunger 21, so

that it is possible for the operator to move the locking plunger 21 forwardly a sufficient distance to cause its contact 41 to en age its latch contact 43, thereby energizing 0th of the latch magnets 30. e

The circuit is closed through the conductor 49, movable contact 41 ofthe locking plunger 21 of the door locking mechanism latch contact 43, latch magnet 30, conductor 51, conductor 53, door plunger 54, contact 55, conductor; 56, contact 57, door plunger 58, conductor 59, and conductor 48.

The current is also closed through the latch magnet of the door locking mechanism B by means of conduc or 65, latch contact 43, conductor-52, latch magnet 30 of door locking mechanism B, conductor 51 conductor 53, door plunger 54, contact 55, conductor 56, contact 57, door plunger 58 and conductors '59 and 48. As soon as the latch magnets are energized, as before explained, the latches 27 are released from their engagement with the plates 66, so that the spring 37 of each door locking plunger 21 moves such plunger forwardly into locked position.

When the locking plunger reaches its locked position, the circuit is closed through the conductor 49, looking plungers 21, contacts 60, conductors 64, lamps 62 and 61, conductors 63 and conductor 48, so that the lamp in each bed room is lighted and forms a visible signal to ihdicate in each bed room that the common bath room is being occupied.

As the locking plunger 21 approaches its forward looking position, the contacts 41 of each door locking mechanism pass out of engagement with the latch contacts 43,. so that, when the doors are locked, the latch magnets are de-energized.

\Vhen the occupant of the common bath room, for example, the bed room 2 desires to re-enter his bed room, he grasps the handle or knob 22 and moves the locking plunger of door lockingmechanism A rearwardly until the movable contact 41 of each locking plunger engagesthe stationary con tact 4 of its opening magnet 38, thereby energizing said magnets 38, so that the locking plunger 21 of the other door will be automatically moved rearwardly into such posi- -.tion that its latch 27 can engage with the plate 66 and retain such locking plunger 21 of the: door locking mechanism B in its released position.

When a contact 41 is in contact with the stationary contact 42 of its opening magnet 38, the circuit is closed through the conductor 48, opening magnets 38, conductors 50, looking plungers 21, and conductor49.

It will be'seen that the springs 37 serve as overthrow springs, so that the latches 27 which bear against the lower front portions of the plate 66 will permit a sufficient forward movement of each locking plunger 21 to'move each contact 41 out of engagement with the stationary contact 42 of its opening magnet 38, so that the opening magnets will be de-energized when the locking plungers are retracted.

It will thus be seen that the electric circuit is utilized only during the operation of locking and unlocking; When the door locking plungers are in their unlocked position, the opening magnets as well as the latch magnets are de-energized, and, when the locking plungers are in their forward or locked position, these magnets are also deenergized, so .that a minimum amount of electric-circuit is consumed in the operation of the door locking mechanism for each door.

' It will be apparent in the wiring diagram shown, whether the occupant of the common bath room'4 me chanically act-uates the door locking mechanism of the door leading to his bed room or the locking mechanism of the door leading to the other-bed room, since both doors are unlocked irrespective of which door locking mechanism is actuated.

tuated lock which will enable the occupant of a bed room when in the bed room tolock that it is immaterial his door from within the bed room so that the occupant of the common bath room can not enter the other bed room.

The manually actuated door lock for each bed room will preferably be of the slide bolt construction, such as is now conventionally used. In a co-pending application, I have described and broadly claimed. a novel door locking mechanism for controlling the doors communicatin with different bed rooms and a common bath room, wherein the manually actuated lock of one door, automatically controls the electrical locking ofthe other door.

In my'coending application aforesaid, each door loc ing mechanism includes a mechanical and an electrical lock, whereas, in

accordance with my present invention, I employ for each locking mechanism, a single locking plungerwhich can be either mechanically .or electrically actuated.

I further employ in this invention elecnism which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the invention and the above description, and that while I have in the present instance, shown and described a preferred embodiment thereof, which will give in practice satisfactor and reliable results, it 1s to be understoo that this embodiment is susceptible of modification in various particulars without departure from the spirit or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is': a

1. In a multiple-door locking mechanism, a locking plunger for each door, the locking plunger of one door being adapted to automatically control the locking plunger of the other door, latches to retain said plungers in their unlocked position, means to cause the locking movements of said plungers when unlatched, and electro-magnetic means to release said plungers from unlocked position. and to cause the unlocking movements of said plungers.

2. In a multiple-door locking mechanism, a locking plunger for each door, the locking plunger of one door being adapted to automatically control the locking plunger of the other door, latches to retain said plungers in their unlocked position, means to cause the locking movements of said plungers when unlatched, and electromagnetic means to release said plungers from unlockedposition and to cause the unlocking movements of said plungers, said electro-magnetic means being operative only when said doors are in their closed position.

3. In a multiple-door locking mechanism, a locking plunger for each door, magnetically operated latches to retain said plungers in unlocked position, means to effect the locking movements of said plungers when unlatched, electromagnetic means to effect the unlocking movements of said plungers, circuit closing means actuated by said doors, and contacts controlled by said plungers and electrically connected with said latch magnets and unlocking magnets to effect their energization and de-energization.

v4. In a multiple-door locking mechanism, a locking plunger for each door, magnetically operated latches to retain said plungers in unlocked position, means to e ect the locking movements of said plungers when unlatched, elctro-magnetic means to effect the unlocking movement of said plungers,

circuit closing means actuated by said doors,

and contacts controlled by said plungers and electrically connected with said magnetically operated latches and electro-magnetic means to effect their energization and de-energization.

5. In a multiple-door locking mechanism, a manually operable locking plunger for each door, a latch magnet and an unlocking magnet for each plunger, means to cause the locking movement of a plunger when unlatched, a latch contact electrically connected with its latch magnet, a contact electrically connected with its opening magnet, a contact carried by each plunger and cooperating with its latch magnet contact and unlocking magnet contact, and electrical connections whereby on the manually actuated forward movement of a plunger both latch magnets are energized and on the manually actuated rearward movement of a plunger b ot h unlocking magnets are energized.

6. In a multiple-door locking mechanism, a manually operable locking plunger for each -=door, a latch magnet and an opening magnet for each plunger, means to cause the locking movement of a plunger when unlatched, a latch contact electrically connected with its latch magnet, a contact electrically connected with its opening magnet, a contact carried by each plunger and cooperating with its latch magnet contact and opening magnet contact, and electrical connections whereby on the manually actuated forward movement of a plunger both latch, magnets are energized and on the manually actuated rearward movement of a plunger both opening magnets are energized and means whereby the opening magnets are deenergized after'the latching operations have been completed.

7. In a multiple-door locking mechanism,

a locking plunger for each door, means to cause the locking movements of said lungers, electro-magnetic means to cause t e unlocking movements of said plungers when one plunger is manually opened, and said plungers being manually controllable by an emergency key operative from within a bed room to move a plunger into-its unlocked position.

8. In a multiple-door locking mechanism for bathrooms, a locking plunger for each door, a grasping handle for each plunger onthe bath room side of its door, means to I retain each plunger in unlocked position, and means actuated by the manually actuated forward movement of one plunger to release the retainingmeans of each plunger,

a locking plunger for each door, a grasping handle for each plunger on the room side of its door, means to cause the locking movement of said plungers, means actuated by one of said plungers on its movements in one direction to release said retaining means for both plungers in one direction to release said retaining means for both lungers, and means actuated by one 0 said plungers on its movement in a reverse direction to cause the unlocking movements of said plungers.

- WILLIAM T. PIERCE. 

